Lucas di Grassi has ramped up his war of words with title rival Sebastien Buemi by questioning the Swiss driver’s ability to handle pressure.
Di Grassi pointed to a spin at the finale of season one that cost Buemi the title, which he believes is evidence that he has a ‘few problems’ coping with the pressures of a title battle.
It comes after Buemi slammed di Grassi for driving into him at last year’s title decider in the London ePrix.
Buemi believed it was a deliberate attempt to take him out of the race in order to win the title, saying that Brazilian’s reputation couldn’t survive a similar incident happening ahead of this year’s decider in Montreal.
Buemi also said that di Grassi’s reaction after the race lacked dignity, and claimed he wouldn’t have been able to look at himself in the mirror if he had done something similar.
Hitting back in an interview with Motorsport.com today, di Grassi said “He lost the championship in season one with quite a simple mistake when he spun on his out lap and lost it all. So you can clearly see he has a few problems in this area.
“Everyone feels pressure in a different way of course. He has pressure big time this weekend, much more than me, this is because everyone will be waiting to see if those mistakes come again in Montreal.”
Di Grassi continued, “I don’t take any reference of his opinions or what his opinions are really. I just act in my natural and normal way.
“This is my approach and if he is happy or not happy with it, well this completely irrelevant to me. He seems to have strong opinions still about Battersea and the way I behave and if it is not the way he thinks I should behave then again I say it is irrelevant to me. It is ancient history now.
“I say and think what is correct. Sometimes I am not politically correct as you can see from my twitter account sometimes, so I say what I think and that is just how it is.”
The Brazilian’s last comment was in reference to a tweet he sent out following Buemi’s interview, implying that it indicated he was feeling the pressure.
Speaking about his chances of winning this year’s title, di Grassi got in another dig at Buemi’s ability to handle pressure, saying “The pressure is on him. If he doesn’t have a good weekend I will win the championship.
“The title is more difficult for me obviously, so I’m going to try to win, I’ll do my best and if I win both races I’ll be the champion.
“I’m going to take more risk than I would if I were 10 points ahead. I have little to lose and a lot to win. Buemi can only really lose it and as we have seen in the past both he and the team can make mistakes.”
